A dream of a normal life
by Henry Uchiha
Summary: When one night after his brother and mother have exploded into yet another argument. Simon runs out into the forest to find and bring his brother back home. But when Simon almost drowns in a frozen river after falling down a ice covered slope in the dark, he is saved by a mysterious boy with golden eyes. A boy who would be Simon's biggest adventure yet. Warning: boyxboy Simon/OC


**Hi everyone, thank you for taking the time to read my fanfic. I've been looking forward to writing a Spiderwick story for a long time, I hope that you all enjoy it =) If you do, please follow or favourite, I will try to update as regularly as I can as I am really excited to write this. I will post a warning with each chapter, and I hope that you all enjoy it. Have a nice day/night wherever you are =)** **Warning: story contains boyxboy (If you don't like, then don't read) Swearing, violence and fights scenes in later chapters.**

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Life is complicated. It's fully of mystery, surprises, unexpected turns and twists of fate. Sometimes you would win battles in life and sometimes you would lose them. Sometimes you also had to learn to just move along with the tide and accept things. Thing that weren't always in your control. Life was an adventure and along the way, you learnt things about yourself. Some magical things, sometimes things you couldn't imagine, or have possibly imagined for yourself. That's what Simon Grace had learnt since having watched his twin brother send an ogre to it's death.

That's right. He had said _ogre_ and no he did not mean something like _Shrek_ from dream works.

He meant a very terrifying and very tall, ugly, mean, real green ogre.

Maybe he should start from beginning.

Simon Grace hadn't always had such a chaotic and magical life. He had been brought up in New York by his mother and father, and with his older sister and twin brother. It had always been the pretty normal and expected life... until his father had an affair that was. After that, he had moved away with his siblings and decided to live with his mother when his great aunt Lucile had left them her home, after Lucile had been taken away to a home about her crazed fantasies.

That's when all this madness had begun and Simon had learnt that his aunt's crazed fantasies, were not so crazy after all.

His brother Jared had found a book in the attic of their new home. A book which was never to be found or known about. It contained secrets, secrets which were never to be spoken. Never to be heard. Just only supposed to have been blanketed by dust and forgotten by time.

But despite a warning, his brother had read the book.

Which had brought deadly consequences on all of them. Consequences which Simon worried about, even to day, for what it meant for Jared.

But those were the stories you probably already knew.

This was the story of how the magic which Simon had thought had stopped being able to surprise them, simply returned back with a vengeance.

It had all begun one night, not but a couple of weeks after Simon and Jared's fifteenth birthday.

A lot had changed in the years following their magical adventure.

Their mother had become more distant, working hard to ensure that the children were all cared for, but it seemed that the sibling group itself had closed in together. The stories they could tell about their adventure, only to be able to be shared between the three of them, since their mother had none of it. Denying it ever happened at any possible chance. She seemed unable to accept it, so she had turned her back on those memories.

It made it pretty hard, since her children still thrived in the life of it... well Jared and Simon still did.

Mallory Grace, Simon and Jared's sister, was at least still open about what happened. But there was a sadness in her eyes whenever she talked about it. A sadness that never seemed to leave. At least she didn't deny what had happened to them, like their mother had. But still, it made it hard to share and deal with those memories, when every time the two brothers brought it up, Mallory would just smile sadly and their mother would shout at them, ordering them to go to their room.

But the descent into their old nightmares and a twisting tale of love, began one early night in October. The sun was setting earlier and the cold was drawing in faster. Sometimes leaving the streets and the area around their home in nothing but a blanket of snow. Grey and silver clouds often painted the canvas of the sky, so forgotten from the summer which had been but a few months before in full bloom with a heat wave.

But now both brothers were trudging through the quiet of the forest. Trees like towering titans around them, standing ancient, cold and wondering. The small creeks and various bridges and stone pathways were beginning to glance over with ice, showing that barely in a month's time it would be Christmas. A thought that still brought a smile and a thrill of excitement to Simon.

Though he would never say it out loud for fear of his brother mocking him.

Over the years Simon hadn't really changed much. Still sharing most of his features with his brother; the soft colour of his eyes. The dark sweep of hair which he kept perfectly combed unlike Jared who let his hair fall free and in spikes. Both their eyes were a soft turquoise which seemed to be worn so very differently by them. Jared was able to carry an burning scowl could make his eyes look like the ocean in a storm. But gentle Simon could never do much other than keep his gaze to be softer than the summer sky.

He still wore his smart, ironed trousers which had been pressed and cleaned that morning, and a collared, black and white button up shirt to match. His brother said that during puberty, Simon's nerd chromosomes had gone into overdrive. Simon had only been surprised his brother had known so much about chromosomes or when their teacher had been teaching the boys about science.

Jared had become more rebellious in his appearance. Wearing black short sleeved shirts or black vests which were studded or had the name of his favorite bands across. He would wear the skinniest black jeans that he could get into and often wore a loose fitted hooded coat or jacket to finish. When Simon wasn't looking, or at least, when Jared thought Simon wasn't looking, he would see his brother lightly sprinkle black dust around his eyes. Mostly to hide the dark bags which decorated Jared to his nightmares of the old Ogre who had nearly killed them as kids, but also to make his eyes look startling.

Jared hadn't really realized his brother had noticed till when he had first ran out of what he used, Simon had bought him another to replace it. Both brothers had shared a quiet smile and said no more about it.

But still Simon couldn't help but smile at his brother's progress since they had first moved to their home. The quiet angry boy- well... he was still angry, a bit of the time. Something that the brothers were trying to conquer together, and Jared was certainly less quiet now. Simon had once recommend when his brother had been losing control of his anger again at their mother, that maybe Jared try venting his feelings by writing them down.

Since then Jared's writing had been to Simon's swelling pride. Jared had become incredibly skilled with his creative writing. Often writing stories about a boy who had fought off an army of Goblins and an ogre... a story sounding a little too familiar to Simon who had quickly warned his brother about what writing to far into their lives or Arthur Spiderwicks work, may do. Jarred had agreed to keep his writing on the down low, but since then, his skill had been the pride of their schools English department.

Which was why both brothers were out walking right now really. Celebrating quietly the success of Jared getting an A on his writing test.

"Yeah, this is really so much better than anything back home in New York." Jared drawled sarcastically as he threw his hands behind his heads. His bony elbows pointed to the dark sky above like crossing swords. His hair glistened and almost seemed to glow in the dark of the cold night, though still he only wore his black and crimson. His Jacket had the sleeves rolled back up to his shoulders and his hood hung low on his back. The dark material of the jacket was spotted here and there with ink from moments when it had dripped out of a pen, while he had been deep in thought during writing.

Jared always found that whenever he wrote he would always get a few ink stains over his clothes, no matter just how hard he tried to stay clean. So after a while, it had stopped bothering him. His brother joked that it was only natural. Considering that Jared had used to joke that Simon spent so much time with his head in a book, that it was expected that a book actually left its mark on Jarred for once.

Simon giggled to himself at the way his twin was still being so stubborn about the way he approached the subject of the everything around them and their new home.

They had been walking for about twenty minutes now along winding paths of the forest which they had created from walking down it so many times. Only about three times when they were walking had they heard the sound of another creature from within the trees or far off in another clearing. It just confirmed to Simon how peaceful this place was.

It seemed so perfect. So out of place from the chaos of the city they had come from. The breeze out here seemed to sing to them gently as it rustled past them, and it probably did. The melody of a fairy was certainly a beautiful one, if not a piece of nature itself. But the cold breeze could still sting, like when it ran up his shirt and made him turn his pearly smile to the darkening sky above him. His eyes decorated with excitement at how winter wasn't far away. His eyes tracing the way the tones weaved in and out of each other like a Van Gogh painting. So beautiful and delicate.

You wouldn't have got this back in the city.

But even while he was beaming and his brother had an indifferent look plastered across his face, he still reached out, but Jared only turned and ruffled Simon's hair, watching as his brother's eyes regarded back over to him with curiosity and hidden excitement, just before realization dawned in Jared. "Oh yeah. You can see a lot more out here though can't you?" Jared admitted, staring up to the sky while watching as they carried on down the path. "After all, you don't often see Goblins running in the streets of New York. Or fairies trying to dance people away. Or shape shifters, or-"  
"I get the point." Simon smiled, straightening his hair back to it's neat state.

He paused for a moment and smiled, taking his brother's hand comfortably in his own as he just smiled. "You've done so well Jared. Come on so far. You're turning it around in School. You're making something of yourself!" Simon's eyes were the epitome of swollen pride.  
"Oh stop being so soppy." Jared grinned, and pushed lightly on his brother's shoulder, though he couldn't stop the smile on his own face appearing. "I guess..." He said, with a great hesitation and not looking in his brother's eyes when he said it, for the knowledge that Simon wouldn't be able to keep the knowing grin out of his own. "It wouldn't have happened... if we had stayed home, back in New York."

A small glance out of Jared's eye told him that he was right about his brother who was grinning from ear to ear.

Both barely began to notice the light fall of snowflakes which descended from the sky, as Simon was too busy complimenting his brother.

But the only surprise came as Simon began to say. "Plus back home in New York I wouldn't be able to have a pet Griffin-"

 _CRACK_

Jared stopped instantly, his eyes sharp and narrowed as he stretched his arm out around his brother. The boy's whole body language instantly set on alert, his mind searching for what made the noise. His fists were curled and he was ready for a fight. Any that were to come, but also to defend his brother if they needed the chance to quickly make a break for it.

It was Simon who spoke into the quiet after a minute of silence stretched. "What do you think that was?" He glanced around himself through the trees but sore nothing. Only the small clearing which they seemed to have stepped into where a creek ran into a pond. Rose bushes of strange colors were dotted around the clearing with flowers that almost looked like crystal. "Do you think that it was maybe nothing-"

He fell silent as a bush rustled nearby and Jared quickly took a stance in front of his brother. His body preparing for the fight. "Come out." He barked. "We can see you anyway! So you might as well come out and-ah!"

Both brothers ducked out the way as a bird went soaring from the bush with a worm caught in it's mouth with a few berries. It cawed out once but only flapped it's wings as it flew looking over more of the furthest bushes. "Just a dumb bird." Jared whispered.  
"Just a dumb bird?!" Simon exclaimed, as though his brother had made the biggest insult ever.  
"Oh great. This talk again." The skinny jean boy grinned as with one last wary glance, he turned his gaze over the clearing and set him and his brother back on the path they had come from, listening to Simon lecture him on how it was more than _'just a dumb bird'_.

Neither saw the golden gaze of a pair of precious eyes, staring out from one of the rose bushes as they left.

 _ **-Break-**_

"So you see. That is why it is more than just a dumb bird!" Simon finished with a triumphant smile as he and his brother began to take their seats at the dinner table. Jared just smiled and held his hands up in defeat, as though Simon had actually managed to teach him the importance about creatures like birds, making his brother beam from ear to ear.  
"Seems like you two had an adventurous outing."

Mallory looked between them as she brought in the plates for their dinner and set down the silverware. Her hair was kept back in a pony tail as she seemed to like it. She like her brothers certainly had grown over the last few years, getting the right curves in the right places and having grown increasingly beautiful, so that many of the boys in her college had noticed her by now. "It was, thank you very much." Jared responded to her as she sat down with a faint smile. "How very gracious of you to join us. College run out of coffee?" He smirked and watched her scowl slightly at him.  
"Not even everything we've been through could get the two of you to stop bickering." Simon said gently and watched as their mother sat down for dinner, without so much as a hello but only a sigh and a yawn.  
 _Uh oh._ Simon thought, as he glanced over at his brother who now held a faint sparkle of annoyance in his eyes as the twin watched his mother. Simon quickly distracted his brother, asking him about whether he had any plans since tomorrow was Friday and a lot of people were beginning to get ready for the Halloween ball which would be taking place in a few weeks time.  
"Have you brought in the crackers and honey?" Jared wondered out loud just before Mallory sat down.  
 _Uh oh._ Simon face palmed internally as he heard his mother's exasperated sigh, and watched Jared shoot her an annoyed glare.  
"Still?" Mallory smiled slightly to herself ruefully. "He's still around?"  
"Can't bare to leave Lucile's house." Jared laughed slightly and smiled.  
"Who can't?"

All eyes quickly shot over to their mother who had her head lent onto her laced fingers. Her eyes darting back and forth between all of them. "Thimbletack." Jarred said simply, though his mother kept cold and ice hard eyes on the table. Unwavering to move them as he furrowed her eyebrows.  
"Is that a nickname you came up with for Simon? Because I'm sorry but I don't understand the joke."  
"No mom." Jared said.

Simon noted the way that Jared was tensing up and gritting his teeth as his patience was wearing thin.

"Thimbletack." Jared continued. "Is the brownie that still lives here."  
"Stop." His mother growled quietly.  
"You know, the one who helped Lucile"  
"Jared. Stop." He mother stated, now raising her gaze to glare at him.  
"Thimbletack helped Lucile guard the book-"  
"JARRED ENOUGH!" Their mother shouted suddenly, pushing her head into her hands.  
"HE HELPED US DEFEAT MULGAWARTH!" Jared barked and then came the heavy silence which that name often brought to the family.

Simon sighed as he visibly watched anger sprout and explode through Jared's eyes as the boy tensed, like he always did when he was ready for a fight or argument. Like a cat about to spring, Simon always managed to think of that comparison.

But now even Mallory had come to a stop with the plates of food in her hand. Her eyes darting back and forth between her younger brother and her mother who's glare could have burnt a hole into the wood of the table. "Jared..." She sighed exasperated as ever. "I thought we had been making a real break through with these fantasies of yours."  
"They're only fantasies because you couldn't fucking handle dealing with them!" He shouted as he stood suddenly.  
"Do we need to go back for more sessions? Remember what they said. If you carry on like this, you will end up just like Lucile-"  
"Oh that would make it so much easier for you wouldn't it?"  
"Would what make it easier for me." His mother muttered, massaging the temples of her head, as though she could press away the headache which was oncoming to her mind.

By now even Mallory knew that their mother had pushed the completely wrong buttons on Jared. It was inevitable now that the boy would burst out with anger.  
"To think that I'm mad." He stated coldly.  
"You're not crazy." His mother stated as though she was reading lines from a script shoved in front of her. "Y-You're just seeking attention by creating these wild fantasies in your head."  
"SEEKING ATTENTION!" Jared all but nearly screamed at his mother with a glower.

Simon lowered his gaze sadly and let out a sigh, he could feel Mallory comfortingly pat his shoulder but he didn't look up to meet her gaze. "You really chose to believe that instead, don't you." Jared growled.  
"Instead of what-" His mother was simply cut off as her own son glowered at her.  
"Instead of maybe the truth that you're just to pathetically weak enough to deal with it!" He shouted, rising to his feet as he slammed his palms on the table.

His hands curled slowly into a fist and he paused for a moment as though he had been frozen. Simon knew what this meant. It's what always happened now when Jared felt the urge to punch or kick stuff. On a good occasion, like this, when Jarred still had some control, his body would lock down, he wouldn't move, he'd barely blink. But it wouldn't last long...

As though sensing what he was thinking, Jared glanced once at his brother then dove out the room. Slamming the front door behind him as he went.

His mother still barely having rose from her seat.

As soon as Mallory began to move, Simon was out of his seat. "No, let me." He said gently. "I'll get him back. Just promise to leave two warm plates for us upstairs? I promise I will do the washing up when I'm done?" He looked at her with wide eyes but Mallory only smiled gently.  
"Go on. Just don't be long okay?"

Simon nodded before taking off sprinting into the cold snow down pour of the night, barely having noticed that the moon had already stared to rise behind the cover of the clouds, leaving the night dark and desolate of much detail.

But sadly he still thought. _Wow... that's the longest we've had a family meal in years._

 ** _-Break-_**

"Jared!" He called out into the night as he took off down the path that they had been walking along with earlier.

It would often end up like this. His brother and his mother arguing, barely able to be in the same room together much. It was certainly tougher now that Mallory had moved away, it meant it was harder to get his brother and mother together for longer. But still he tried always as hard as he could.

But Jared would always be his number one priority and would always come first to him.

Always.

So whenever Jarred and their mother would have an argument, as they would do most nights, Simon would run out after his brother would storm out of the room or even the house when he was really fed up, like Jared was now. It seemed that most days, only Simon was able to actually calm his brother down from the angry bursts which would almost seem to posses him.

But right now, in the freezing cold and pitch black darkness of night, it made going out after his brother, a hell of a lot harder. "Jared!" He called out pleadingly as he searched further and further for his brother. Straying away slightly from the path. "Jared come on now! Please! It's too cold for you to be out here alone with no one-AGH!"

The floor came out from him quickly and the area around him became dazed as Simon's head hit of the cold ice covered ground, leaving a red stain behind from where his forehead had been cut.

But that was the least of his worries as with scrambling hands he quickly found himself clawing at the ground, trying desparetly to slow himself down as he had fallen and slipped right onto a steep hill where now he was slipping and falling down towards the frozen river beneath. Ice covered the water heavily, but it wouldn't hold his weight, and with a heavily dazed head, he was in no position to think clearly.

So his attire attention went onto clawing at the sharp bits of ground which stuck sharp ends of rocks into his palms, leaving trails of blood behind in the dirt. "Oh god!" He called out. "Oh god, oh god, oh god!"

Then came the heavy thump as he hit the cold ice and slid out across it to the center of the frozen wide gap. Barely or scarcely allowing himself to move an inch.

His breath was coming out in a misty trail and his palms were cut harshly, leaving blood across the cold surface. "J-Jared!" He tried calling out.

 _CRACK_

He paused. Not moving a muscle and trying to spread his weight evenly across his thin and lean body. His eyes were wide and his heart was racing with pure unadulterated fear.

In the distance he could hear a loud: "Simon?!" Being shouted out.

 _CRRRRACCCKK_

The cracks were fracturing faster and wider, spreading in every direction. "JARED!" He barely had time to scream.

Before the ice cracked and a pain of what felt like a thousand knives stabbed into him as he crashed through the ice and sank into the freezing water.

He clawed at the water. Kicking with all his might. The breath he had claimed had been robbed of him the moment he hit the water as the cold was blistering and merciless. With all his strength quickly failing him, all he could do was just sink further and further. Flailing wildly, fighting with as much power as he could to try and get back to the fading light above him of where he had fallen through.

For a moment he thought he heard a loud thud, and blinked shaking his head, but the water was stinking his sight, and the darkness around him was claiming him further and further. _Is this how it happens?_ He thought as with all hope failing, and his body sinking further and further into the frozen darkness. He began to accept what had happened and give into the numbing which was spreading over him. _We fight off an ogre... and drowning in the river is what kills me?_

His vision was becoming more hazy as his lungs screamed out for oxygen.

 _J-Jared... I'm sorry._ Was his last thought.

His mouth burst open and the water burst into him.

But only for a second.

He paused as he felt air rushing slowly into his mouth as something pressed against his numbing body. _Air._ A small amount of it. But still some, flooded through the water which had been filling his lungs and all around him. Were the soft words. Calling out. Speaking louder and louder. _"By moon's light did fair child sail far from home. Stars shine and trees sing, so sad to see you alone. Wolf cry to your lovers oh on this lost day. Bring the child to his brother, and sing our rounds today."_ The words were so softly sung and as melodic as a lullaby. So completely beautiful.

Simon barely registered that a pair of golden eyes on a lean and scrawny figure floated and locked on with his own. The words reverberated around his head. It should have been impossible. But the words sank into his skin. His mind constantly ticking over them as the air was gently pressed into his mouth and a hand tightly wound around his waist.

It wasn't till he broke the surface that he realized that they had been gradually rising back out the water.

The dark shadow of a figure now above him. With those... those beautiful. Golden eyes, screamed out as their hand blistered on the cold and Simon was barely able to catch a glimpse of a shard of ice stabbing deeply into the figure's leg.

the figure who sounded barely older than him; a fifteen year old boy, rushed the words as quickly as he could. Such soothing words, purred and almost sung in their whispering movements.

But even that lost his focus till Simon felt a warmth land on his mouth, and air rush through his lungs.

the figure rushed out the words again but this time as they pushed on Simon's chest and breathed air back into him. Simon felt the water explode free of his mouth as he flailed and turned weekly over onto his stomach, gasping for air, staring as the figure next to him collapsed against the stronger bits of ice and the bank where they laid.

No words now passed between either of them as both thought for breath. Simon could feel the warmth passing back over his chest as the figure ran their fingers over his skin, passing the last of his warmth with the last of his strength, till the boy's arms simply fell limp at his side and those golden eyes just stared blankly at Simon while the pained labor of breathing was shared between both.

Simon blinked a couple of times, watching as those golden eyes began to weakly close. _N-No! P-Please wait!_ His thoughts wanted to call out.

He barely had time to manage to take a mental picture of the boy in front of him. Still hidden by the dark but still some features were defined; the faint shinning of ice, golden locks of hair. Damp spikes which fell in a shaggy swerve to the side of the boy's head. The boy's body was lean and fine, a single item glittered from his neck, something that almost looked like a stick figure. Then there were those pure, precious golden eyes which now were half open, fading slightly. The trickle of blood from the boy's leg as with one limp arm, he cradled where the sharp shard of ice had impaled his limb. "SIMON!" A voice nearby screamed out.

 _Who. Are. You._ Simon thought.

"SIMON!"

 _Eyes too heavy... need... to sleep-_

 ** _-Break-_**

"Simon?"

It felt as though he had all but barely blinked when he found himself staring up at his brother's face. His body aching painfully, his head feeling as though it had taken a punch. His fingers still slightly cold but his body was covered by a blanket as early dawn sunlight poured in from the nearby window. His breathing was a little labored at first, but quickly he found that his heart was steadying out. "Simon!"

He barely had time before a pair of arms were quickly wrapped around him. The reflection of his own face staring back down at him as Jared was on top of him, staring at him as though the boy was a ghost about to vanish. "You're okay!" He whispered over and over again.

Simon barely managed to reach up with his little strength and put his hand on his brother's cheek. Sad to see such intense fear in Jared's eyes. "W-what happened? Wasn't I just-"  
"You tripped and fell. Must have gone rolling into the river. I heard you scream then-" Jared fell quiet for a moment as his breathing stuttered. Simon just in response pulled his twin down and hugged him close to himself. Enjoying the comfort and the warmth that came with it. "I saw you lying there by the side of that bank and I thought that you were going to-"  
"But I didn't." Simon said factually. His body still screaming with exhaustion. "I remember falling... the water. I thought I was... but then _he_ saved me."  
"Who." Jared frowned.  
"That boy. The one with the golden eyes. He dove in after me. He pulled me out. He got me to breathe again. He gave his warmth up for me so that I could live long enough for you to find me. Jared, he hurt himself! He was bleeding! He-"  
"Simon." Jared frowned. "There was nobody else there when I got to you. You were by yourself."  
"Jared! I'm telling you I saw something! A boy! He was there! Without him I would be dead-"  
"I believe you." Jared stated, leaning Simon slightly back and adjusting the pillow behind his head. "But I'm only telling you. When I found you, there was no one else there. The only thing I found was you, clutching this strange necklace in your hand. That's it."  
"Necklace?" Simon frowned.

He slowly turned his head down to his bare chest where a single thin golden chain resided with a wooden and gold speckled charm. A small figure made of wood with a pair of golden leaf wings. Simon was struggling to place the memory but it looked familiar. "Jared, we have to go back out there. He hurt himself getting me out! He got impaled on one of the spikes of ice where I fell through. He could be hurt! Or worse!"  
"Easy now." Jared frowned, gently placing a warmth cloth across Simon's forehead. "Now believe me. I could go out there and kiss the boy who saved you. If you say that he saved you and a boy was there. I believe you. But you're going to be no use to yourself, or anyone else, if you are still barely able to even sit up! I'll go and head out into the forest in a bit and search myself. But for now. Rest." He stated leaving no room to argue as he laid down on the bed next to his brother and wrapped his arms around Simon to keep his brother warm.

But that just left Simon to stare out the window as the tune to the song played through his head over and over again. The melodic voice of the boy who had saved him.

And may have gotten himself killed in the process.


End file.
